Chapter 555: Fortune Telling Vision
The newly created True Aether Soul Clone sat cross-legged on the polished floor of the cultivation hall, the Fortune Telling Art manual resting on his lap.
The faint glow of the lanterns reflected off the clone’s face. His expression was calm, almost thoughtful, as his eyes scanned the old characters etched into the manual’s pages.
From a distance, Aksai’s true self leaned back against the tall pillar of the hall, arms crossed over his chest. His breathing had steadied after the soul-splitting ordeal, and now his sharp eyes never left the clone.
Through the bond of their shared soul, he could feel the flickers of thought inside the clone’s mind—like ripples across a pond. If he wished, he could nudge the ripples, push them toward a decision, or even override them completely.
But for the ti being, he chose restraint. This experint was about discovery, not control.
The clone studied silently for a long ti. The Fortune Telling Art was unlike any cultivation thod Aksai had ever seen.
Instead of focusing on absorbing essence or tempering the body, it focused on reading the Great Will that was supposedly hidden in the Spirit essence. It spoke of threads unseen and listening to the subtle whispers of destiny.
The manual described steps that sounded simple but carried a hidden depth: breathing in rhythm with the flow of fate, aligning one’s inner sight to the pulse of heaven and earth, and reaching out to touch the Threads of Fate that bound all living things.
The clone closed his eyes and began to follow the instructions. His breathing slowed, becoming steady and asured. He tried to sense the invisible currents Naisha had spoken of, the threads that wrapped around mortals like strands of silk.
For a ti, there was nothing but silence. Then faint echoes stirred in his mind—a flicker of sothing distant, elusive, like a breeze brushing against fingertips.
But when he tried to grasp it, it slipped away.
The clone’s brow furrowed. He tried again. The ambient Spirit essence around him surged slightly, twisting and curling inside him. He reached for the threads, straining harder, but each ti the image dissolved. His aura wavered, then fell flat, leaving him gasping.
From his place near the pillar, Aksai felt the effort and the strain. The bond between them carried the frustration of failure. His clone had spirit roots, had a soul fragnt strong enough to carry his will, and yet he could not even step into the first stage of Spirit Refining realm.
The clone opened his eyes and turned toward the main body. His gaze, though identical to Aksai’s, carried an unspoken question. It was the look of a student asking a master for guidance.
Aksai t his own eyes through the clone and remained silent for a mont. His hand rose to his chin, stroking it slowly as he thought.
“Hmm…” he murmured to himself, his tone calm but curious. “Is it because I don’t have Threads of Fate binding ?”
He shifted his weight, his gaze narrowing slightly. “Naisha did say I was an anomaly. Perhaps I’m too far removed from the threads she spoke of… maybe anomalies of my level can’t practice the Fortune Telling Art at all?”
His fingers lingered at his chin, eyes never leaving the clone. The thought unsettled him, but it also intrigued him. If the art required the Threads of Fate, and he basically had none, then perhaps the very reason for his freedom was also the reason for his failure here.
The clone’s face remained expressionless, but through their link, Aksai could feel its quiet waiting, its silent question: What now?
“Enough testing,” Aksai whispered.
He closed his eyes.
In the next mont, his perspective shifted sharply, as if his soul had leapt through a doorway. His breath caught for a brief instant, then steadied as he found himself inside the clone’s body.
The sensation was strange yet familiar. His limbs felt lighter, his vision sharper, and his awareness spread out differently, like a lantern casting its glow in every direction.
He raised the clone’s hand, watching the faint lines of the palm move as if they belonged to him all along. His lips curved into a faint smile.
“The Fortune Telling Art is indeed more complicated than I thought,” Aksai muttered, his voice now carrying the softer tone of the clone’s throat. “No wonder it is not a well-known cultivation technique. Only the desperate like Naisha and “radicals” like would dare practice this.”
He let out a slow breath and narrowed his eyes at the manual lying open on the pedestal.
“It has too many obvious risks and hidden pitfalls. First of all, this technique is not sothing that should be practiced by cultivators of the Dadangar Subcontinent. There are other, far better options available—simpler paths that are much easier to obtain. If the goal is simply to progress further in Spirit cultivation, then this art is a waste of ti.”
He paused, his gaze growing distant.
“However,” he whispered, “the real benefit of the Fortune Telling Art is not the opening of one’s cultivation path…”
Aksai stopped talking to himself and silently looked down at the manual. He placed a hand on it.
In his mind, he whispered thanks to Naisha for giving him the complete copy of this technique. Without her trust—or her desperation—he would not be standing here.
Even though the art was tangled and far more complicated than most techniques he had ever studied, it had sothing unique, sothing even his own cultivation thod lacked at the mont. The Fortune Telling Arts could support one’s journey all the way to the Core Formation realm, making it a genuine 3rd Order cultivation technique. That alone made it priceless.
He slowly flipped the pages, eyes tracing the faded ink strokes. His thoughts sharpened as he studied. The early stages—Spirit Condensation, Foundation Establishnt—offered little. The technique was slow, uncertain, and unstable. But according to the manual, its true power revealed itself once the practitioner stepped into Core Formation.
That was when the art shined. That was when the Fortune Telling Vision opened.
Aksai’s eyes glead. He read a particular section twice, then asked the Neural Link Fabric to analyze the script. Thin spectral screens appeared before his eyes, symbols twisting into clearer patterns as the Fabric processed the information.
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seed.
“Although the Fortune Telling Vision is only supposed to be unlocked after the practitioner reaches Core Formation,” Aksai whispered, “it wouldn’t hurt to test sothing else with this clone.”
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